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what is more pressing then the membership decline, is the donation decline.
Either way I'm shocked Disney was still giving money to the BSA seeing how they do everything possibly to spend less, and are against the pro american values of the BSA.

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So, loose 100,000 members ... that's about 2 million in income from registration fees alone.

Disney's contributions were only in proportion to its employees who donated to BSA. If 1 in 12 who were donating to BSA left, it's unlikely they would apply for matching funds anyway.

Since most corporation contributions operate via matching funds without prejudice as to the groups their employers support, nationwide, membership decline will has a greater long-term direct impact on corporate donations nationwide.

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I guess the next step for the Mouse would be to immediately stop the sale of all DVDs of FOLLOW ME BOYS and order the original masters destroyed at high noon on Main Street in Disneyland, to prevent the unfortunate misapprehension by the public that the Disney Corporation ever considered the BSA to be an organization that was ever in any way moral or worthy of support, and to then donate an amount equal to all past revenues from sales of the property to whatever LGBTQQ political action committee most loudly applauds their corporate decision, then to ruthlessly Photoshop Fred MacMurray and Kurt Russell out of any production photos taken with Walt Disney in the Disney archives, Oldschool Stalinist-style.

(In reality, however, I suspect that the Disney Corporation would give up any revenues from the sales of any property whatsoever only at such time as the funds can be pried loose from the cold, cryogenically frozen dead fingers of Uncle Walt, who is preserved deep in a frosty secret chamber inside Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland, awaiting the time when technological advances will allow the Disney technicians to implant his brain in an audioanimatronic body to again seize command of his empire. IMO.)

Just another secular/political/social organization trying to dictate the standards of someone's religious tenets. Our forefathers left Europe along with millions of other parts of the world to get away from such activity. When will the world learn, dictating religion of any faith just doesn't work.

BSA is a religious (A Scout is Reverent) organization. Not just one religion, but all religions. Now if you are not religious, so be it. Start an outdoor program that has only 11 Laws, but don't dictate to those who would like 12.

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umm how exactly is Disney dictating anything. You make it seem like they are required to donate to the Boy Scouts or they are somehow violating the Boy Scouts rights. They have exactly as much right to decide to associate with as the Boy Scouts do.

EXACTLY my point. It's none of BSA's business what Mickey does. But Mickey has chosen to make it everyone's business by running around making a big political brewha about it. Simply take the BSA off the list and let it go at that. People have a right to decide where their money goes. If Mickey's employees want to give to the BSA they can. Obviously Mickey isn't interested in giving to charity, they are interested in only certain charities, and that's their prerogative. My company doesn't contribute to BSA, but they don't give to anyone for that matter. At least they are being fair.

jblake - I believe in the principles of scouting.. We are to be non-sectarian, reverent, and welcoming of diversity.. Now all we need to do is change the policy that has strayed away from those principles...

Companies that make these kinds of decisions are just as wrong as the groups they choose to not recognize may be. It is ALL money and politics.

If a company has a program to match legitimate giving by their employees, then it should not be passing judgement on who the employees choose to aid. By doing so, they are being hypocrites. Granted, they have the right to control where their corporate dollars go in regard to charity; but if they have these matching dollar programs, they should not be tied to the corporate decisions, as they are singling out personal actions of their employees. If they feel they need to do that, then they simply should eliminate the entire matching program.

But few companies have the courage to stand up to the power of the Gay lobbies. And when one does, they find themselves in the sights of media and a firestorm of negative press.

BSA though needs to take the final step to allow leaders as well, as long as those leaders meet the conditions of the individual charter org. Then it is no longer a broad brush decision, but a local one. Of course that will still not satisfy the PC police that feel they have the right to tell people and private groups what they should believe and what they should do. The field of battle will simply be refocused I fear.

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The hypocrisy of politics comes into play when one group can dictate demands on another while making sure that group can't dictate any demands on them. Or in the case of the majority of those groups, simply want to be left alone. Push them far enough they will defend themselves and then the first group will cry foul!

The NERVE of that corporation to think they can decide for themselves what to donate money to!!!!! LOL

Jblake, by your logic you should welcome Disney's 'pullout'. Now they have no leverage whatsoever over BSA. Problem solved.
As I have often advocated, members of BSA ought to be 'paying the freight' for programs they benefit from and they should not expect handouts from others, corporations in this case. If you want to be free from corporate influence, turn away from their donations.

I DO appreciate the irony of the hand-wringing by persons who claim to be conservative, simply because they aren't recipients of corporate welfare anymore.

Is anybody really surprised that companies like Disney continue to withdraw support for Scouting? It didn't matter which side of the gay debate you were on, most of us guessed that the half-assed change BSA came up with would satisfy neither side.

So, no army of gay youth waiting to sign up and no increase in corporate donations as a result of the change. Worse yet, membership took another tumble and more big companies are sending their coin elsewhere.

Has anybody seen FoS numbers for their council? I'm guessing they've taken a tumble too.

So out of all the Walt Disney employees in the U.S., $4.8 million was raised for numerous charities through this Voluntears program in 2010. How much of that actually went to BSA? I bet the number is insignificant. The negative publicity will cost us more than any loss in donations from Disney.

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Yeah, but they got national press for their pittance matching funding for Boy Scouts. They aren't interested in nothing more than making a political statement. But they give to the USGSA which makes them sexists. Don'tcha just love politics. Need a tear-jerk reaction? Just think of all those poor blacks and Hispanics that won't be able to do scouting now that Mickey has spoken from on high.

I'm sure the 99% love this kind of stuff even though 99% of us can't afford their Disney World/Land prices.

Is loss of their matching funds (as you describe, a 'pittance') really going to result in "all those poor blacks and Hispanics that won't be able to do scouting now that Mickey has spoken from on high."??? Really?

Seems like a lot of effect from a "pittance". Do you know this for a fact? Have you seen the BSA budget details which can demonstrate this impact from the loss of that "pittance"? Where can I get the detailed budget to see this for myself?

Walt himself was a Boy Scout (T'Foot), and promoted Scouting most of his life. He apparently had no problems with Scouting. Put bean counters in charge of anything and that thing will sink to its lowest common denominator

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Find it interesting that a discussion about Mike Rowe and Walmart should have suitable quotes for other categories on the forum.

"We’ve become adept at putting people into boxes and assigning labels that reduce individuals to a single dimension. Thus, Democrats must behave like Democrats. Republicans like Republicans. It's expected. If you wander too far afield, you’re labelled a “sell-out.” A “Rino." A “Scab.” And so forth. "

Politics, money, and power go hand in hand. And as noted already, this entire Gay focused issue is fully ensconced in those categories.

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Eliminating the discrimination against gay youth was a baby-step. The next step is to stop discriminating against gay adult volunteers. Then corporations and the public can once again start supporting the BSA without controversy.

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Or corporations and alumni who want to uphold justice for pairs where one member bears the brunt of physical burden of reproduction due to biology will stop supporting BSA, and start supporting youth groups who uphold those roles as sacrosanct.

No matter what, we are the pawn in someone's culture war until we are no longer the largest youth movement in the nation.

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Actually, the BSA's religious discrimination didn't go on for 80 years, as they re-admitted Paul Trout in 1985 after public uproar over kicking him out. Sometime after that, the BSA decided defrauding public schools was the way to go.

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No more off-topic than AZMike's rant - and I'll note that he seems to have been perfectly OK with the BSA taking Disney's money, he only complains about Disney when they stopped giving. I guess he was willing to overlook it as long as it paid off.

Merlyn, it is a common reaction by most anyone being taken off the dole. Those receiving handouts eventually tend to come to expect them and then they strongly resent it when they have to fend for themselves.